Rover 200 front wipers dont work and its raining!

ticklepenny_2

Hello,

I am a complete car novice regarding self repair, but I dont have the money to send ours to the garage at the moment.

The problem: Rover 200 T reg (1999) Front windscreen wipers dont work.

I have replaced the original blown fuse, I have tried 15amp, 20 amp, 25 amp and 30 amp all have blown as soon as I turn the key in the ignition.

I have searched through previous threads but cant find this exact problem, although this may be due to the fact I am quite clueless.

I have no idea what to do/try next (apart from buy even more fuses for when I have sussed out the problem).

Please help!

MARYSWISDOM

Do not put a bigger fuse than is recommended in as this could cause burned wire problems.A fuse is there for a reason to stop your car going on fire etc .it blows fuse because there is probably a fault in the wiper motor ,go and see a mechanic,he will test the motor if its it just replace.

darich

First thing I'd suggest is not putting a higher rated fuse in the board just to see if it will work.
There's a chance you'll fry something elsewhere at best. At worst you'll set you car on fire if a load of wires melt or short out because the insulation has metled off.

Years ago, fuses had multiple uses so the wipers fuse would also be the horn (for example). The problem may not be with the wipers but with some other component that uses the same circuit.
Do any other items not work eg radio, rear wiper, indicators etc....check everything else is working. If you find something else not working then it may well be on the same circuit and that may the faulty component rather than the wipers.

mikey72

Try disconnecting the auto park wire from the motor, that's the one that usually packs up.
If you don't know which one it is, disconnect the lot, that connect them back one at a time and see which one blows the fuse.
(you may have to pry them all out of the connector block, make a note of where they go, and don't let them short together, or to the car body)

ticklepenny_2

MARYSWISDOM wrote: »

Do not put a bigger fuse than is recommended in as this could cause burned wire problems.A fuse is there for a reason to stop your car going on fire etc .it blows fuse because there is probably a fault in the wiper motor ,go and see a mechanic,he will test the motor if its it just replace.

I have tried the other fuses as that is what my handbook told me to do, however it is a useless handbook. although if the car did burn out completely I wouldnt be too upset lol.

would a mechanic look at it and not charge for the assesment? I am broke at the moment.

darich wrote: »

Years ago, fuses had multiple uses so the wipers fuse would also be the horn (for example). The problem may not be with the wipers but with some other component that uses the same circuit.
Do any other items not work eg radio, rear wiper, indicators etc....check everything else is working. If you find something else not working then it may well be on the same circuit and that may the faulty component rather than the wipers.

I have checked absolutely everything and there isnt anything on the same fuse, its just the wiper and the wash.

mikey72 wrote: »

Try disconnecting the auto park wire from the motor, that's the one that usually packs up.
If you don't know which one it is, disconnect the lot, that connect them back one at a time and see which one blows the fuse.
(you may have to pry them all out of the connector block, make a note of where they go, and don't let them short together, or to the car body)

Quick no brainer question from a complete novice.... what is the auto park wire? It doesnt have it in my handbook and there fore I dont know what one is. What is it attached to? and where is the connector block. Yes I know I am completely clueless. My dad used to do all the car stuff for me but he lives 250 miles away now.

ticklepenny_2

closed wrote: »

you've checked the fuses are blowing?

Yup they go pop with a blue spark when I turn the key in the ignition.

darich

ticklepenny wrote: »

I have tried the other fuses as that is what my handbook told me to do, however it is a useless handbook. although if the car did burn out completely I wouldnt be too upset lol.

I doubt the insurance would pay out if they discovered that you had put a higher rated fuse than instructed in the handbook and that had caused a vehicle fire.

In effect, you would have caused the fire.

MARYSWISDOM

auto park does give trouble but should not blow fuse.you will know if auto park sensor is gone if when you wipers did work they did not return to the bottom of your windscreen fully .usually half way , first thing is disconnect the wire plug from wipers then turn them on in car if no fuse blows it is not a wire within the loom or at connector.then reconnect each connetor one at a time and see if it blows fuse,if there is only one connector then disconnect wiper linkage ,make sure when taking nut of the motor to remove linkage mark postion of linkage on motor with some thing like tipex pen so you know exactly what postion it was on motor .if linkage is free and you put you wipers on without it connected to motor and fuse blows then the problem is in your wiper motor .hope i have not confused you too much.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Sounds like a Haynes manual is needed and some heavy learning to be done.

Running a car for free means you will have to learn quickly how to be a kerbside cowboy mechanic, nothing wrong with that many of us were exactly that back in the day, you'll have to learn how to trace and diagnose faults correctly.

A good relationship with an old fashioned scrappy needed too.

benham3160

Does the fuse blow as soon as you change it, or does it blow as soon as you turn the wiper on, or do they wipe for a few seconds then the fuse blows?

Very useful information for us to diagnose it.

Regards,
Andy

vaio

As the fuses keep blowing try cutting a small section from a six inch nail and use that.

Seriously, go back to to the correct size fuse and uncover and unplug the plug from the motor. If it still blows then you have a wiring fault (probably under the steering column covers), if it doesn't blow you have a failed motor.

As you don't want to spend money the next stage involves a Haynes book, some basic tools, more posts on here and possibly a trip to a scrap yard but console yourself with the knowledge that it can be fixed for not much money as long as you don't put a value on your time